Collection: Smoker Recipes

Match the wood to the meat. Fruitwoods like apple and cherry are mild and sweet, great for poultry and pork. Hickory and pecan are stronger and classic with pork ribs and shoulder. Oak is the go-to for brisket and beef ribs. Mesquite is the most intense, so use it sparingly or for shorter cooks.

Most recipes here smoke between 225 and 275°F, low enough to break down brisket and pork shoulder without drying them out. Poultry can go hotter, around 275 to 325°F, which helps render fat and crisp the skin. A thermometer that tracks both the smoker and the meat takes the guesswork out.

No. Soaked wood mostly steams until the water cooks off, which delays clean smoke and can cool the fire. Dry chunks on charcoal or dry chips in a smoker box work well. Add wood early in the cook, when the meat takes on smoke flavor most readily.

Large cuts like brisket and pork shoulder often stop rising around 150 to 170°F, sometimes for hours, as evaporating moisture cools the surface. You can wait it out, or wrap the meat tightly in butcher paper or foil to push through faster. Either way, cook to temperature, not time.

It's three stages: 3 hours of smoke unwrapped, 2 hours wrapped in foil with a little liquid to tenderize, then 1 hour unwrapped to firm up the bark and set any sauce. Several of our rib recipes use it, finishing in the oven and on the grill. Smaller baby back ribs often do better with a shorter 2-2-1.

Plan on roughly 1 to 1½ hours per pound at 225 to 250°F, plus at least an hour to rest, but treat that as an estimate. Brisket is done at about 200 to 205°F, when a probe slides in with almost no resistance. For a deeper dive, read The Art of Smoked Brisket.

Yes. Set the pellet grill to the temperature the recipe calls for, and it will hold it steadily for long cooks. Pellet grills make the most smoke at lower temperatures, so starting low for the first hour or two, or adding a smoke tube, gives you deeper smoke flavor. You can then turn up the heat at the end to crisp skin or firm up bark.